Vietnam Trivia

[Sgted]

Hey Ricardo,
No, not Martha Raye & her troop.

However, in 1967 I drove Martha Raye in the front seat of my PC when she appeared at Freedom Hill.
She was there with Ms. Tall California & some other entertainers. I forget who the others were but I think one was an opera singer.

I was able to get her autograph on the back of a movie stub for "The Greatest Story Ever Told" which I saw in California while I was in Staging.

[Sparrowhawk]

Was it the dong or the piasters?

[Sgted]

Dong.

[Sparrowhawk]

And the exchange rate?

[Sgted]

Piasters was the official money of the Armed Forces personnel in Vietnam I believe. And I'm not even sure if piasters were only used in 'Nam.
I'm not 100% sure.
Funny money.

I totally foget the exchange rate.

[Sparrowhawk]

Funny money, MPC

Here's question Christmas truce 1967; What was the time line?

I recall that by 16:00 hours on Christmas Day we were out and about searching for the enemy that we had seen during the truce re-supplying themselves.

don't know if we moved in after them before the truce ended or we observed the time line?

[montana]

we had some true gook $$$$ we got off a KIA from an ambush we sprung.....tried to buy french bread...banana popcicles ...& wisky...(any kinde you could think of from momason in the bush)
with the money....seems some before my time ..69/70 used monopaly money...in place of funny money...o momason wouldnt take the real think(gook money)...only wanted funy money...we was all broke sept for the gook stuff....realy wanted a popcicl that day

SF

[Sgted]

Sparrowhawk

(MPC)
Military Payment Certificates.

So.....Piasters ??? Samey same as MPC ??

Demanding minds want to know !!!!

By Christmas 1967 I was in CONUS.

[Sgted]

Montana.

I do remember eating really good french bread in (of all places) Dogpatch. Actually, it was good stuff.
I also remember eating a sugary bean filled dessert kind of pastry in Dogpatch that I bought from a stand in an unauthorized stop in town.
I forget the name of the bean thing.

One other thing I did in Dogpatch (no.....not that).
I picked bananas off a tree.

[Sparrowhawk]

Originally posted by Sgted

I picked bananas off a tree.

Round bananas, first time I had ever seen round chubby bananas. Remember that day, in the middle of a fire fight and what did I find strange?

Round bananas, hanging from the trees. LMAO

[Sgted]

Sparrowhawk.

Right.
They were little round chubby bananas unlike the ones we see here in the state.
Heres a picture of the very banana tree in Dogpatch I picked from that day.

[MillRatUSMC]

Piaster swapping was also among the activities of the black market, utilized to make a few extra dollars for personal expenses. The street vendors were often the contacts for these clandestine transactions that involved buying piasters on base with MPC and exchanging the piasters with the Vietnamese for MPC they had taken as payment for goods or services. The piaster was the unit of money in Vietnam and the official exchange rate was between 80 and 90 per US dollar.



However, the US Government in an effort to bolster the local economy gave GI's around 120 piasters per dollar, which if traded to the Vietnamese, even at the official rate, netted a 33% profit. However, shrewd haggling normally resulted in exchanges of 50 piasters per dollar, which was a whopping 140% profit and to some soldiers worth the minimal risk of being caught.



The source of that information is;
http://home.att.net/~vietnam67/jmbook06.html

Semper Fidelis/Semper Fi
Ricardo

PS I too want to remember the exchange rate back than!

[reddog4950]

Radio at 18 years old you are right there, In the Nam I was in the bush most of the time , but then I was wounded I went to Danang hopital there. Before returning to my unit yes I visited dogpatch just like almost every other Marine did. What did you do in the Nam? Why do you dislike Recon Marines, remember I was an 0311 first? We are all brothers in my eyes anyway. I still remember what Semper Fi really means, do you? Don't matter your MOS Marines work as a team no one is more important then another.

[MillRatUSMC]

Just like I don't drive, I never wore a set of Dress Blues, because I saw myself as an ordinary Marine.
One who's duties did not require the wearing of Dress Blues.
But I did see that we all a mission to forefill in what MOS we were assigned.
Is one MOS better than other MOS?
Without one MOS supporting other MOS, many wouldn't be here to tell about.
It's always been the "TEAM" concept that carried the Marine Corps through all the missions assigned.
I was once proud to carry the title of a Recon Marine.
My best memories of the Corps was serving with those men.
The one Marine that I really looked up was 1st Lt.Frank S. Reasoner USMC, not because the actions that made him a recipent of the Medal of Honor.
It was his qualities as a leader of my platoon.
I knew what he did that day in August of 1965 was what he would have done regardless of the danger.
So we shouldn't look at each other as a grunt or winger or anything else because we're all Marines...

Semper Fidelis
Ricardo

[Sparrowhawk]

What was the tour of duty for an officer in the field and why?